Posted by Jonathan Maguire on Tue, Aug 17, 2010
The following article 4 Steps to an “Economic Foundation Repair” is taken from myfoundationrepairs.com. The article is useful when you have a complex foundation problem. Generally, we refer you to a professional 3rd party engineer if an agreement cannot be made on what repairs are needed. A typical engineer will cost between $350 and $500, but is almost always worth the expense.
In these trying times of a recession, one doesn’t like to spend money on non-essential items. Buying a new 47” Vizio Flat Screen TV on sale is a non-essential item, having your foundation repaired is an essential item,. Foundation problems do not fix themselves. The signs of foundation problems might temporarily leave as the seasons change, but will return with greater possibilities of more damage. How can a homeowner receive an “Economic Foundation Repair”? This can be accomplished by following four easy steps:
1. Hire a Professional Engineer:
Why do you need a professional engineer? You want a professional engineer first to look and assess your foundation problems. This will explain why it has happened and how to fix the problem. Therefore, when it is time to solicit bids for your project all contractors need to bid what is required by the professional engineer. How do you find a professional engineer? Search yellowpages.com or yellowpages for heading Engineers, from here look under subheadings for Structural.
2. Follow recommendations of the professional engineer:
Engineers are not doing work for the sake of doing work. They have been trained in school as well as in the field of what is right or what is wrong. How much experience do you have? The recommendations should be carried out, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t question the reason why. A good professional engineer will explain the reasons for the recommendations. He or she is only looking out for the safety of you the customer and your home.
3. Hire a professional contractor:
When hiring a professional contractor ask your professional engineer for referrals to call. Get at least 3 to 4 quotes on the exact work the engineer has requested to be done. Make sure your contractor is licensed and insured with referrals of similar work. Review and have the contractor explain all work he is quote.
4. Proper Drainage:
After all work is completed, make sure you have the correct drainage completed. This might involve new gutters, down spots, French drains, or foot drain and sump pumps. The major contributing factor to foundation problems is water. Make sure you get water away from you foundation as quickly as it appears. If you take the steps in proper drainage you could save money down the road from having to get other parts of your foundation repaired.
As a homeowner, to get an economic foundation repair one must get professionals involved. This will save you time and money in the long run by insuring your foundation is correctly repaired the first time. The contractor you have chosen should complete the work as directed by the engineer. It is then your obligation, as a homeowner, to make sure your house has the correct drainage. If you have questions on the correct drainage, be sure to ask your structural engineer. If you follow the 4 steps mentioned your success rate of economic foundation repair can be achieved, as well as, preventing future foundation problems elsewhere in your home.
Posted by Jonathan Maguire on Tue, May 11, 2010
In part one of this discussion, we talked about what a helical flight is. This post will hopefully add some insight into how torque equates to loading in helical piers. We will also discuss one of the HUGE blunders of a local manufacturer.
Helical piers are screwed in by a hydraulic gear motor. This motor generates a hydraulic pressure on the gear that equates to a torque (force) on the pier being installed. This torque is then multiplied by a soil factor (when soil testing is done there is an actual number defined for the soil and for the product, when soil testing is not performed a generic ‘average’ is used). For the purposes of this post lets use the following equation (used from a technical manual written by Don Clayton, PE) -
Ultimate Capacity = Torque x “k”
where “k” is equal to the soil multiplication factor.
This is a simple equation, and to give an example for a light duty pier – we generally install our helical piers to 4,500 ft/lbs and use a standard average soil factor of 8.
Capacity = 4,500 x 8 = 36,000lbs ultimate capacity
since the ultimate capacity on a single flight is between 40,000-50,000 lbs (steel and weld capacity) – a contractor could use a single flight configuration for this loading.
Now for the HUGE blunder by a local manufacturer. Let’s review some details of helical piers:
- Torque is one of the main factors of the ultimate capacity of piers
- Helical pier types can handle different torques (thicker pipe = stronger, etc)
- Flights have an ultimate capacity of 40,000 lbs for the flights – but the pier torque is what generates the ultimate capacity.
I have run across the situation where a standard residential pier (.203 wall) is sold as a high capacity pier (60,000-70,000 lb ultimate capacity) by the salesman telling the contractor that he’ll just add another flight to the pier. If you double the flights you do add additional capacity, but the problem is – You simply cannot install a standard residential pier to the torque required to generate 60,000-70,000 lbs. The pier will fail during installation – remember the equation
Capacity = Torque x “k” where “k” is the soil factor.
60,000 = Torque x 8
60,000/8 = Torque = 7,500 ft/lbs
Typical residential piers can be installed to around 5,500 ft/lbs – max. You cannot get there from here no matter how many flights you add to the pier shaft (in fact you will notice the equation doesn’t even factor in the number of flights). But I’ve seen this, and I’ve seen general contractors buy this lie from the local company “engineer”.
Posted by Jonathan Maguire on Fri, Mar 19, 2010
In 2003 there were 20 helical or resistance pier manufacturers, 4 of them were considered “Major”. The top two companies were AB Chance and Atlas Systems (where we received our name). In 2009 there were over 50 manufactures of piers, with AB Chance topping the list followed by Earth Contact Products then Dixie, RamJack, DriveRite, etc.
As you can see, there has been a LOT of manufacturers enter into the business in the last few years. Many of these manufacturers are making helical and resistance piers from their own shop or “basement”. The top companies – and ones with the longest history have licensed engineers behind all their designs, a full fledged manufacturing facility, and quality control. The smaller guys are making a few piers - and while some of these 2nd tier or 3rd tier manufacturers may have engineers that help design, there is no way to compete with the larger companies in quality control, manufacturing and oversight. When you are supplying multiple thousands of piers (sometimes tens of thousands of piers), your quality has to be top notch. You cannot afford product failures, you cannot afford for a 3rd party engineer or inspector to question your products. There is just too much riding on them.
Why does this matter? Atlas Piers of Atlanta only purchases from platinum manufacturers. We have too much at stake to trust a lesser manufacturer. So when you have someone look at making foundation repairs to your structure ask which helical pier or resistance pier manufacturer they install. Piers may seem like a commodity, but there are vast differences.
Posted by Jonathan Maguire on Thu, Dec 24, 2009
Our first blog post. A historic moment for the company, and one where we want to talk about history.
Wayne Farris started installing resistance underpinning piers in 1987. The original name was Concrete Repair Specialists, inc. Once Wayne went to a World of Concrete seminar in Atlanta, he met some representatives from Atlas Systems – a deep foundation piering manufacturer. They were looking to start a venture in Atlanta and Wayne was up for the task. In 1989, Atlas Piers of Atlanta, inc was formed as a small foundation repair company working out of a home office and basement in Atlanta. From it’s humble beginnings, Atlas Piers of Atlanta rose to winning multiple trophies and awards for the most piers installed across the country for Atlas Systems. In fact, Atlas Systems pretty much decided they needed to do something different after Atlas Piers of Atlanta won so many trophies. (#1 in 1994, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005; #2 in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002; #4 in 1995, 1998)
But Atlas Piers of Atlanta wasn’t the only foundation repair piering company in town. There were a few others around the same time. Interestingly, all of those have now gone by the wayside. There was Terrafirm, Permajack and one other company who closed the local office but has since come back……and there have been many since. Many of our competitors have either changed business models or gone out of business. Many of those companies that started installing helical piers or resistance piers were once water proofers or pressure grouters. We have stayed true to our original business model, we only install the strongest helical and resistance piers by the best manufacturers. We have not deviated, nor do we compromise by manufacturing any of our own helical or resistance piers.
As we look at today’s landscape in the piering and foundation repair industry, as much as times change, things stay the same. We still see competitors come and go, and we see other companies “add” piering to their other trades.
Over the next months and years, we hope to explain many of the issues in our industry – from individual projects to the overall landscape.